


there was something I should tell you

by cinderlily



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Disney on Ice AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2015-12-17
Packaged: 2018-05-07 05:17:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5444642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinderlily/pseuds/cinderlily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jamie Benn is cast as the Beast in Las Vegas' new Disney on Ice, where he meets the aptly cast Gaston, Tyler Seguin. After being warned off that Tyler was a huge flirt and straight, Jamie decided that he was better off as friends with Tyler. </p><p>After a night of poutine, antique shopping, and beer everything changed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	there was something I should tell you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bbb136](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bbb136/gifts).



Jamie met Tyler at orientation. Well, “met” is actually a pretty strong word for what transpired: Tyler was brought to Jamie’s attention at orientation. It was after they’d been cast, but well before they were trained. So Jamie had shown up in a tracksuit and with a sweatshirt thrown over his black tote bag. 

A guy with a clipboard went through their names, each person stepping forward or lifting a hand to announce that they were there. “Benn” was pretty early so he just lifted a hand and looked around. He wondered who his “Belle” was but wasn’t too concerned. As his family lovingly put it, he had thighs of tree trunks and could dead lift a horse if he wanted to. Still, it was a curiosity. 

His Belle, as it happened, was named Hilary and was beautiful and sweet and just that touch of intimidating as hell that he was okay with. He nodded at her and she nodded back. Her hair was in a baseball hat, her outfit nearly identical to him. He didn’t know why he was relieved. 

Then they got to Seguin (mispronounced an _astounding_ four times before Tyler took pity on the guy), and he basically whooped and hollered, announcing that he was going to get all the girls wanting Gaston well over the Beast (he’d stopped to wink at Jamie, what the fuck) and with the grin and flexed muscles Jamie had little doubt he could. 

They were separated into pairs to learn the best ways to do simple lifts. Hilary and Jamie were paired off, naturally, and she looked him up and down skeptically. 

“You think you can not drop me? I’m pretty fond of my face.” 

In response Jamie skated backwards a little and waved her towards him. He braced himself like he’d done about a million times before and she didn’t hesitate. Three seconds later she was six feet off the ground and twirling around. 

He set her down carefully and she grinned at him. “Okay, you’ll do.” 

From most people this would be an insult, but he practically puffed up at the compliment from her. His cheeks went a little red and he looked at the ice. “I do what I can.” 

“Canadian?” she asked. 

He snapped his head up. “What gave me away?” 

“Just a feeling, I can smell the maple syrup on you.” 

“...Thanks?” 

“Don’t worry, so is that one,” she jerked her thumb over towards where Tyler was twirling a girl around in huge figure eights. “I worked with him on the touring show. It was like he was built for the Gaston part, I swear to god.” 

“Really?” Jamie looked over and lingered at the look of sheer glee on Tyler’s face. 

A quick tsking noise came from beside him. “Don’t do it, Big Benn.” 

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the completely overused nickname. “Don’t do what?” 

“You think I don’t have eyes? You’re heart-eyeing him like this is a freaking morning cartoon.” 

“I am not--- what the hell is heart-eyeing him?” 

Hilary made an exaggerated swoon and put her hands on her chest. “ ‘Look at that guy with the stupid smile and goofy laugh, he’s the bee's knees….’ “ 

“Who calls _anyone_ the bee’s knees? I … I am not heart-eyeing him. I was just looking. They have an impressive form. They go pretty low and stay balanced. It was admiration.” 

She rolled her eyes. “Okay, whatever you say. But if you _were_ , let me tell you not to. I know way too many people who’ve been burnt by Tyler Seguin. He’s a bit of a flirt mixed with a total frat boy. He doesn’t even know he’s doing it. I mean, he’s awesome and the best friend you can have. Just… don’t. Okay?” 

Jamie crossed his fingers over where he figured his heart would be. “Will do. Or won’t do. Whichever. You know what I mean.” 

She nodded, seemingly satisfied with whatever he said. “Good. I don’t need that drama. Now, get your ass in gear and we can show those showboats what a decent figure eight looks like, deal?” 

He avoided telling her that he was not cut out for the whole figure eight thing, with his thighs being too big and his center of gravity not exactly right. Instead he made himself follow her instructions and do a few tentative movements. His eyes kept catching glimpses of Tyler though. The smile. The laugh. The way his ass looked in his, frankly, too tight pants. 

He kind of felt bad for lying to Hilary on their first day as Belle and the Beast. 

*  
He _actually_ met Tyler at the end of the first week, when the rest of group went out to a club and Hilary dragged him with, insisting he needed to get out, and that they wouldn’t bite. (“If anyone bites in this cast…” she’d teased.) 

Clubs weren’t _really_ his scene, to be honest; he was much more of a bar guy himself. He liked the simplicity of music playing and a chance to play pool, if he wanted to. The club they’d picked was supposed to be bar themed, but the music was so fucking loud there wasn’t a chance to do much other than sip his beer and people watch. 

Well. Tyler watch. 

Which was entirely less creepy than it sounded in his head. It was just… the guy was a magnet. Everything and everyone was attracted towards his aura or something. If anything, they had cast Gaston spot on. 

When he got caught for the third time by Hilary, who’d come over and nudge him and just shake her head at him firmly, he made himself stare directly in the opposite direction. There was a group of girls there, all scantily clad, dancing around in a circle and laughing whenever a guy would approach. 

“Bachelorette party,” a voice said, extremely close to his ear. He jerked his head back and towards the sound to find Tyler about five inches from his face, smelling like beer and harder alcohol with a shit eating grin on his face. 

“Wha-what?” 

Tyler pointed towards the group. “Bachelorette party. The girl in the center is the bride. At least her tiara doesn’t have any … dick-orations.” He laughed at his own joke. “Come on man, dick-orations. That’s golden!” 

Jamie forced himself to relax a little. ‘So did they shoot you down or are you a psychic?” 

“I strip danced for a while,” Tyler shrugged, and nudged at Jamie to make him scootch into the booth. When he sat down next to him, he continued. “Before I got a steady gig on ice. It wasn’t too bad. You’d be surprised how much money you can make in a night. Bacherlorette parties were the freaking bomb. Three hundred a night. Easy.” 

He was so nonchalant about it that Jamie had to give him credit. Jamie lifted his beer at Tyler, who manifested a beer from the table to clink against Jamie’s, “To bachelorette parties.” 

“To bachelorette parties,” Tyler echoed, then offered his other hand to Jamie. “I’m Tyler, by the way. Seguin. I’m Gaston.” 

“I know,” Jamie said, almost automatically and inexplicably blushed a little. “Hilary has told me a few things about you.” 

Tyler put a hand to his chest as if wounded. “Ouch. Anything she says is probably highly exaggerated or horribly true. Or both. Probably both.” 

“I’ll bear that in mind, I guess,” Jamie smiled. He took the hand that was being offered, though he had let it hang a little too long. “Jamie by the way. Jamie Benn. I’m the Beast.” 

Tyler nodded. “That you are. I think you are every girl’s favorite person in the show. I hear about you three times a day at least.” 

“All that and I don’t even swing that way.” Jamie had learned a long time ago that keeping himself in the closet was just not worth it. He didn’t work in a career where it mattered, and if it _did_ matter to someone he really had no level of caring for the person. It would actually do him a favor if Tyler reacted badly. 

“Are you _kidding_?” Tyler sputtered a little bit. “This is a tragedy. Have you SEEN the girls in this cast? And they do _nothing_ for you? What a freaking pity.” 

Typically, nothing was made easy. He shrugged. “Less competition I guess?” 

“Amen to that,” Tyler clinked his glass against Jamie’s. “Well, Jamie Benn, you are looking too pitiful over here. It’s really bumming me out. You and me are getting some shots and we are going to enjoy this night. Deal?” 

He was going to say no. He was going to stay in his pitiful little corner of the room but then Tyler gave him a small grin and wink and the whole thing was completely over. He put a hand out to remind Tyler that he had to get out of the way before they could actually go anywhere and Tyler shimmied out happily. 

“You like Jaeger? The chick behind the bar makes Jaeger bombs that I swear are at least 90% Jaeger.” 

Jamie had only had Jaeger once and he could remember about half that night but he nodded as if he was a connoisseur because… well. Tyler. 

*

A few months into the show Jamie felt like maybe he should take the whole thing back. By the end of the week he felt dead on his feet. Skating 8 shows in six days was killer and the whole idea of doing this for his career was entirely intimidating. 

“Hey, hey, Jamie,” Tyler bounced on the balls of his feet, three feet from him, and getting closer by the moment. “Whatcha doing?” 

Jamie had just gotten into his casual clothes, freshly showered, and completely exhausted. Sundays were nice, they only had an afternoon show, which meant that he could go home and rest. Plus Mondays were dark so it was a huge swath of time where he could sleep. 

Not that he was going to admit that to Tyler. 

“Dunno. Probably grab dinner and watch some ESPN. Why?” 

“Hilary told me there is a killer place for poutine in Summerlin and I’m craving it like crazy,” Tyler gave him his wide smile, the one that Jamie couldn’t say no to, even if it meant breaking laws. Plus, you know, _poutine_. 

Jamie put his bag over his shoulder. “You’re just using me for my car. Plus, isn’t it illegal to eat American poutine? Shouldn’t we worry about Mounties?”

Tyler waggled his eyebrows. “I’ll live dangerously if you will and come onnnn, you know you love me. If I wanted a car I’d bug Bozak. He’s always bored. You’re more fun.” 

They walked out back and found a few people who wanted signatures. Which kind of made him feel like he wanted to run away but he didn’t. He signed their programs with a flourish, always adding ‘The Beast’ underneath, because it’s for kids and he couldn’t say no to kids. 

Tyler was in his element, cheesing it up for camera phone photos and flirting with all the girls. He even sang a few bars of “Gaston” and signed the books of the girls and the kids alike. Tyler, unlike Jamie, was made for the spotlight. 

When they got into his car, Tyler took over the command of the radio, his iPhone long since synched with the Bluetooth. 

Summerlin was only 20 minutes away from the arena and Tyler gave him pretty decent instructions, so it wasn’t too bad. He’d admit that the first few times he’d gone out of Vegas proper, the Canadian in him was 110% overwhelmed, but Tyler had taken to it like a duck to water. He knew the ins and outs and all the new places to go that weren’t too touristy. 

“Next left,” Tyler said, after he turned down the music from the ear piercing decibels. “Hil said it was a total hole in the wall. I’m so freaking pumped. POUTINE. FOOD OF MY PEOPLE.” 

Jamie laughed, and in turn brayed a little. He’d lost the instant embarrassment of it around Tyler pretty quickly because he was _always_ doing it but … his ears still went a little hot. With the amount Tyler talked about the girls in the show you’d think that he would get over the dumb ass crush and see that he was just friends with a straight guy, but alas. As his brother loved to remind him, he had the self preservation instinct of a toddler. 

The little place could just barely even be called a hole in the wall; there was a long bar with stools, and maybe three booths on one side. It was… well. Actually pretty perfect, and it smelled freaking fantastic.

“What can I do for you two?” the waitress, in her early twenties, had been reading on a stool behind the counter, perked up as they walked in. 

Tyler walked up to the counter and looked up at the chalkboard menu. “I hear you guys make actual poutine. Don’t tell me I’m wrong, you might break my heart.” 

Jamie had heard the term ‘heart eyes’ maybe two times before and yet there they were. The girl practically swooned. “Wouldn’t want to do that. We do in fact have poutine. Two orders?” 

“Make it three,” Tyler winked, then turned back to Jamie. “Want a beer?” 

He nodded and Tyler ordered them two Molsons. He wasn’t one to get homesick, but yeah. He might have felt it a little then. 

Tyler directed them to the farthest booth in the back and waited for Jamie to pick which side he wanted to be on before he slid opposite to him. 

“Dude, you okay?” he asked. “You look a little like you want to punch someone and as I know you wouldn’t punch a girl, I’m feeling a little anxious here. My face is the money maker, man.” 

“Oh, uh,” Jamie grabbed at straws. “Homesick? I guess.” 

Tyler didn’t laugh, thank god. Instead he nodded and went serious. “I feel you. I mean, fuck me. I wanted out of Canada so bad I would have taken a job on a cruise ship at a certain point but … sometimes it hits you. Plus living here fucks with your brain. Seasons would be nice.” 

“If you’d told me while I was shoveling my front walk I’d miss doing it I would have laughed so hard. I tease my sister about it all the time,” Jamie admitted. 

The girl came up to give them their beers and poutine, and Jamie’s mind glazed over for a minute. It looked amazing. He leaned over smelled one of the plates, letting out a low moan. 

“Oh god,” Jamie closed his eyes. “Canada help me, this smells amazing.” 

“My mama’s from Quebec,” the waitress smiled. “My dad is from Saskatchewan.” 

He opened his eyes to thank her but she was, yet again, looking directly at Tyler. He sat back and took a long swig of Molson. It tasted like home and high school. 

“Jamie here is from Victoria,” Tyler pointed towards him and the girl looked over. “He plays the Beast. It’s pretty appropriate. Though he usually doesn't look so pissed off. Smile, Jamie, Lindsay said she’d bring out some extra gravy!” 

Jamie smiled, cause he was pretty much meant to do whatever Tyler said. “Gravy, awesome. Just enjoying the beer. I’m a tame beast.” 

Tyler giggled, in that way that made his whole face look like an anime character and the smile on Jamie’s face went from fake to real pretty fast. Lindsay looked a little more… _eh_ about the whole thing but she waved her hand and turned around, and that was all that mattered. 

“Come on, eat up. After this I’m thinking we go for a walk. My metabolism is the freaking bomb, but you’re going to have to walk some of this shit off, unless you want to go back to your nickname…” 

Someday he was going to kill Jordie. He’d moved all the way from Canada to Vegas and just one stupid visit from his brother and “Chubbs” was back in his life. Well, not from anyone other than Tyler, and rarely enough that he didn’t totally freak out. Still though, _one visit_. Like he could control his weight when he was under ten. 

“Just because I’m not scrawny as hell,” Jamie teased, taking a fry and dipping it into a pile of gravy in the corner of the bowl. “Doesn’t mean you need to get all jealous of my brawn.” 

Tyler shook his head. “I am not _jealous_ of it, trust me.” Jamie tilted his head a little but Tyler just gave him a look as he slowly drank from his beer. “I wonder what stores are in this area. I’m flush.” 

“We got our paychecks two days ago, Tyler. You’re not flush, you’ve got like 12 days to make that last.” 

He rolled his eyes at Jamie. “Thanks pops, but I’m good. I promise not to buy a pony. Besides, you’d take care of me if I was all broke and destitute, right?” 

“Yes.” 

The answer came a little too quickly and loud for his sense of pride but it seemed to please Tyler nevertheless. He sipped on his beer like he’d won a prize and went back to eating the poutine. 

Lindsay came back out to give them an extra cup of gravy, and oh god. It looked good-- more than good. He was going to have to work out for three days straight. It would totally be worth every moment of it. 

“What are you guys doing this evening?” she asked, her hip leaned on the side of the booth nearest Tyler. 

He looked up at her and batted his lashes. “Well, we thought we’d go exploring, maybe shopping. Any recommendations? Tourist trap free, please.” 

She looked them both over for a second. Tyler had gone back to smiling at Jamie, who knew his face was betraying him again, even with the forced look of happiness. She looked at Tyler though, and something seemed to click on her face. She backed off of Tyler’s side, moved more to the center of the table and smiled her best at Jamie instead. 

“Not this center but the one across from here has some pretty cool stores. Like a nicer Goodwill, an antique place my dad is obsessed with, and a great place to buy beer if you want it. They have a few good Canadian beers, but they also have a few better German beers.” 

“HERESY!” Tyler called out, startling both of them. “German beer is never better than Canadian beer.” 

Lindsay raised her eyebrow at Jamie and Jamie shrugged. “He’s got his feelings about beer.” 

“Want another round?” 

“Is that a question?” Tyler winked at her. The door opened and a group of girls walked in. “Though we can wait.” 

Lindsay put her hand up to the girls and then turned towards them. “I can multi task. I’ll be back.” 

“What do you think, want to go antiquing with me?” 

Jamie shrugged. “I’d rather get some beer and watch ESPN?” 

“But Jamie, _old stuff_.” 

“You are giving me no real motivation for this, Tyler.” 

Tyler rolled his eyes and huffed dramatically. “Okay, okay. You take me antiquing, and actually pretend to enjoy yourself and then we’ll get some good,” he raised his voice towards Lindsay, “CANADIAN beer and then go back to your place and watch ESPN. See how my boys are doing.” 

“I still can’t believe you call the freaking Leafs your boys,” Jamie sighed. 

“Like the Canucks are much better? Tell me again, how many Stanley’s you got?” 

Jamie scowled. “When was the last time the Leafs made it to even FIGHT for the Stanley? Cause my boys were in it in 2011.” 

“Someday you will not have that to use against me. This year is a good year, I feel it.” 

“And the day the Leafs hoist Lord Stanley I will stand up from my wheelchair at the old folks home and ask the nurse for blue jello to celebrate.” 

Tyler shrugged and popped another fry in his mouth. “I’m gonna hold you to that.” 

*

The poutine lived up to its hype in the end, and he didn’t say that because Lindsay backed the hell up from Tyler; it was just good stuff. Plus the beer was comfortable and familiar, which meant that he’d had one too many, which meant he was not going to drive. 

“It’s across the street, not across the world,” Tyler rolled his eyes. He was really touchy-feely on his sober days, and that was definitely not that moment. As they crossed the road to the shopping center that had been recommended to them, Tyler had his hand around Jamie’s neck, hand firmly planted on the top part of his chest. 

The first store that was in the shopping center was a used bookstore. Jamie could admit he wasn’t the biggest reader on earth; there was so much to do that the idea of just reading felt a little boring, but Tyler walked in and Jamie followed. 

The guy behind the counter barely gave them any attention, instead focusing on the book in his hand.

“You guys have a sports section?” Tyler called out. 

This sparked the guy’s attention, barely, but he looked up and across at them then jerked his head. “Way back, right corner.” 

They filtered through the cluttered store, hindered by Tyler occasionally stopping to look at random books. First came a book of glass art work, Chihuly. Then came a book of all of Calvin and Hobbes cartoons on record, which he was particularly enthralled with, spending five minutes looking through pages. 

“Dude, CALVIN BALL. We should play Calvin Ball. Maybe we can get the cast and crew. The crew would rock it. I mean, back of the arena… it would be epic.” 

They lingered in the music section and Jamie had to talk Tyler out of buying the history of hip hop, because even at a used bookstore it was like 130 bucks. He knew what the Beast made, which gave him a fair estimate of what Gaston would make and that was just not okay. 

Finally, _finally_ , they got to the back and found a huge section of books under a half assed sign that stated “Sports”. Tyler got really excited as he perused things. It didn’t seem to actually matter what order it was in. There were few things on baseball mixed in with basketball and an astonishing amount of NASCAR books (he was learning American culture, but nothing would ever explain freaking NASCAR). 

“AHA!” Tyler smiled gleefully. “You want to find definitive proof of my team’s awesomeness. Here are THREE books about the Leafs. Three, Jamie. And where oh where are the books about the Canucks?” 

Jamie rolled his eyes. “Maybe it’s because they’ve been sold to other people who actually appreciate good hockey?” 

“Har har har, Chubbs,” Tyler flipped through the book in his hands, a well worn copy of ‘Toronto Maple Leafs: Diary of a Dynasty’. 

Jamie picked up a book of ‘100 Things a Maple Leaf Fan Should Know and Do Before They Die’ and flipped through it. There were a few things that were stupid and a few that seemed like they should be obvious (see a game in the arena, wow _original_ ).

He really didn’t know what compelled him to do it but … well. It kind of called out as a book that Tyler needed. So he tucked it under his arm while Tyler was engrossed in the other book and claimed he had to take a leak before he walked to the front. 

“Hey,” the guy behind the counter put down his book and then looked at what Jamie put in front of him. “Oh, poor you.” 

Jamie’s ears went a little pink. “Naw, I don’t like them. My friend does. I just… am buying him a gift.” 

“Well, poor your friend then. That’ll be 4.50.” 

He handed him a 5 dollar bill and looked surreptitiously over his shoulder. “Also, where’s your john?” 

“Right next to the section you were just in,” the man said dryly. 

He took his change and the bag, which he tucked into his back pocket. (Reason 800 he was glad not to wear skinny jeans, though he would never complain about Tyler’s basically painted on pants.) 

He got to the back to find Tyler on the floor sitting cross legged, obviously engrossed in the book. It was… well. Frankly, adorable. He didn’t even have to give an excuse as he walked around him and into the bathroom, just did his business and came back out. 

“You ready to go, or do you want to memorize all the ways your team used to be amazing?” he teased. 

Tyler looked up and blinked at him, totally ignoring his chirp. “Oh yeah, yeah. Let’s go. I think I might get this book. It’s awesome. We were a total dynasty. We were legendary.” 

“Come on, dude. Let’s just go to the next store, we can come back. Or get it on your kindle or something.” 

After a moment of staring at the book and then at the price Tyler hummed and nodded. “Okay, okay.” His voice perked back up and he returned to the blinding smile. “Let’s go on our adventure.” 

“Lead the way,” Jamie patted him on the back and turned him towards the door, making sure that his back was facing away from Tyler. 

The next store was a total disaster. It was a huge warehouse of suits and apparently Tyler needed them ALL. He spent a good hour trying on about a dozen suits, modeling them for Jamie. Some were okay, traditional enough that he didn’t think they were too bad, but fuck if Tyler couldn’t find the most god awful pieces ever in the back. Bright red suits that made him look like he was trying to dress like a devil, a PLAID suit… who the hell needed one of those? 

“I need a new suit,” Tyler declared, holding up the red one and a more traditional dark blue one. “Which is better? I need one for like… events, man.” 

“What events do you EVER go to?” Jamie declared, feeling a little like a wet blanket.

Tyler hummed in thought. “What if there was a wedding? And we needed to go to it.” 

“Whose wedding? All the dancers are either already married or single as hell.” 

“You are genuinely no fun, Jamie. None at all.” 

Jamie, who had a BRIDAL magazine on his lap, shrugged. “You still hang out with me. That’s on you.” 

“My cross to bear,” Tyler sighed dramatically. “Well, if you are going to be no fun, let’s keep going.” 

The lady, who’d been watching patiently the whole time, seemed to suddenly develop cartoon steam coming from her ears. Jamie made sure they’d put all the suits back together and on their hangers, aware of her glaring at him. Freaking A. 

Tyler led them again, to a pawn shop, which was exactly Jamie’s speed. He’d been in enough of them over the years that he knew they were the best kind of treasure trove. Tyler was distracted by a row of guitars, so Jamie decided to go looking for himself. It wasn’t like he needed much. His apartment had just about everything a bachelor needed, but he still had a great joy looking at useless stuff. 

He was beginning to feel like the liquor was out of his veins, and he still felt tired, but not nearly close to tipsy. There was a great section of old video game systems that he was staring at in awe, the childhood version of him internally dancing at the Nintendo 64. He and Jordie had begged and pleaded for months and months and gotten one at Christmas, and many hours had been spent playing on that system. They even had some of his favorite games. 

And, oh god, an old school Game Boy, he was in heaven. He needed it. It wasn’t even that expensive and they had Tetris AND Mario Brothers. It was his. 

Or it would be, as soon as someone came around to the section. He rang the little bell thing that was on the counter and heard a call of, “One minute. Just a minute!” from somewhere near the front. 

It was more like 5 minutes, but he was patient. He stared at the Game Boy with ever growing joy. A man finally came around and looked at him. 

“What?” 

“I want the Game Boy, Tetris, and Mario Brothers,” Jamie said gleefully. 

Tyler came up from behind him. “Oh, I see, you get to buy useless crap whenever you want but I want to **invest** in a suit and I get yelled at?” 

“These are dirt cheap and I will actually use them rather than just on the hypothetical occasion that our friends get married,” Jamie said, slightly annoyed. The guy behind the counter coughed, which was weird, as it seemed kind of deliberate, but Jamie brushed it off in favor of mimicking Tyler from earlier. “Plus, you’ll take care of me if I’m all destitute, right Tyler?” 

Tyler laughed at him. “Okay, okay. Fine.” 

The guy rang them up and handed Jamie the bag with the console and games. He tilted his head at him and smiled. “Congratulations.” 

Which. Okay, to be fair, was a freaking weird thing to say on a purchase of an old school GameBoy and games, but Jamie spent his living in a huge costume singing on ice. He didn’t get to dictate weird jobs. “Thanks? Have a good day?” 

“You too.” 

Jamie turned to Tyler to give him a clear ‘what the fuck’ look and found Tyler making a face at the guy. Then he caught sight of Jamie and switched immediately to a smile and said, “Let’s go. I hear beer calling my name.” 

“You ALWAYS hear beer calling your name.” 

“Well, we are really good friends, what can I say?” 

They exited the building and Jamie went left while Tyler went right. “Where the hell are you going? The liquor store is down here.” 

“I changed my mind. We’re going to the ESPN zone.” 

“Tyler, that’s a total tourist trap. Beers are like 8 bucks. I thought you said we could go back to my house and chill,” Jamie, well, quite honestly, whined. He’d been tired when the day ended, and though this random --- whatever-- with Tyler was fun he wasn’t sure he wanted to go through downtown Vegas. 

This didn’t deter Tyler though, he just grabbed Jamie’s hand and led the way. “Come on Jamie, I’ll even treat. All the TVs. All the stuff to do. Tomorrow is the day to sleep in. It’ll be fun.” 

*

It was, expectedly, busy as hell, even for a Sunday night. No matter what or where you went in Vegas it didn’t matter the day or time, things were just always busy. There were groups always there doing stupid stuff, but thankfully they generally included more than two people so finding a booth wasn’t as bad as it could have been. 

The waiter smiled at them in that fake way most of the waiters on the strip had, but as soon as they asked for some of the channels in their area to be switched to hockey he completely perked up. He was from Ottawa of all places, though Jamie couldn’t hold it against him. He’d played hockey all through high school but was realistic about his prospects. He’d moved to Vegas for a girl and then stayed after the relationship was over. 

(All of this they learned because Tyler was just the kind of person to bring out as much as possible out of people. Jamie baffled as the guy told them everything. He was pretty good one on one, but Tyler could talk to a hundred people and make them feel like he was only talking to them.) 

A pitcher of beer manifested in front of them, as well as a huge basket of wings, and any remnants of annoyance at not being home melted away as he and Tyler trash talked the teams that were on the screen. Neither of their teams were playing so it was fair ground to just point out the faults of all the other teams. 

“I wished I actually made it, you know?” Jamie said, third or fourth beer in. “I just know had I gotten the try I could have made it to the show.” 

Tyler nodded sagely, even though the sauce at the corner of his lips took away from the solemnity of it. “I think you could have too. Hell, I think I could have made it if I’d applied myself more. I mean. That and the injury.” He grimaced and Jamie did too. Stupid freaking injuries. Tyler switched back to a grin. “But then we wouldn’t have met, now would we?” 

Jamie kind of wanted to call him on his bullshit, on the fact that he couldn’t keep himself from making a joke when he could just _say something,_ but decided that was a talk for another day. “Who’s to say that? Maybe we would have ended up on the same team. We could be like Crosby and Malkin, the two headed beast.” 

“Now we just have a one headed beast,” Tyler said and then cracked up at his own (really lame) joke. Jamie joined in and, of course, snorted, which just got Tyler to laugh harder. “Your laugh is the freaking best, man. I swear. Bottle that shit and we could sell a cure for depression.” 

Jamie went pink all over, or more pink. He could feel the alcohol deep in his veins warming him up. “You are such a nerd.” 

“I’m not lying. That little nose crinkle and the snort, it’s awesome.” 

He wondered at what point of blushing would his face turn permanently red, but he was laughing into his hand and enjoying himself, so he avoided trying to get Tyler to stop. “You’re drunk, Tyler.” 

Tyler tilted his mostly empty cup at him and winked. “Drunk words are sober thoughts, _Jamie_. And my sober thoughts are that I love you, you giant goober.” 

“Tell me that again tomorrow,” Jamie muttered, finishing off his beer in one long swallow. He met eyes with Tyler, who looked at him deadly serious. “What?” 

Tyler refilled his beer from the pitcher and looked him up and down. “What if I bet you I can make you believe me by the end of the night?” 

“A bet?” Jamie asked, surprised at Tyler’s agility even when he was rocking a pretty good buzz. 

“Exactly, a bet. And I will win.” 

“Well, what are the stakes?” 

Tyler bit his lower lip and filled up his half-full glass of beer. “The stakes are that If I can get you to believe me by the end of the night, you owe me a real honest to god date.” 

Jamie sat back a little. “Ty, you’re _straight_.” 

Tyler arched an eyebrow and shook his head with a laugh. “... ish. You will take me on a high-class, no frills-left-out date. I mean Whoppers and Skittles at the movies, dude.”

“And,” Jamie glossed over the ridiculousness of all of this, the fact that Tyler was so drunk he was being stupid. “When you wake up in the morning completely mortified that you offered this?” 

“On the _not going to happen_ event, I will… I don’t know…” 

Jamie smiled a little. “Wear a Canucks jersey. For a whole day. You can borrow one of mine, even if you fucking swim in it.” 

Tyler offered out his hand and they shook on it, then Jamie put his glass up and they clinked glasses. Tyler started to chug it, and well, fuck that if he was going to let that dumb ass win. He was Jordie freaking Benn’s little brother, he knew how to chug a beer. 

When he flipped the glass and put his arms into the air he felt a little ridiculous, but whatever. The look on Tyler’s face, still having to finish a little in his glass, was totally worth it. 

And that was just about the last thing he could remember for the night. 

*

He woke up with a distinct pounding in his head, one that he had had multiple times before. He didn’t really think about lifting his head; he’d fallen to that trick way too many times, so he dug his head deeper into his pillow and inhaled deeply. 

It smelled… too clean. Not like his pillow smelled like mildew or anything, but he knew the scent of his detergent and he knew the last time he washed his sheets and … yeah. Neither of those matched up. This smelled like… Hotel sheets. Sheets he’d had too much experience with as he’d been the traveling Beast with Disney On Ice. 

He was going to have to look around. He was going to have to move. That was the a thing he’d have to do. 

Maybe in about an hour. 

*

A few hours later his eyes opened again and the regret wasn’t entirely that bad. In his line of sight was a tiny bottle of water and two small white pills. He drank the whole bottle and took the pills in one long swig. 

Either he had been a very attentive drunk or … someone else was involved. Which would also explain the hand on his lower back. He closed his eyes and counted to five before he turned his head and saw what he pretty much expected. 

A sleeping Tyler Seguin, eyelashes flush against his cheek and smile still, somehow, across his face. The night before came back in small doses. The trip to the poutine place, the shopping… ESPN Zone. Things got pretty fuzzy after that but he was sure that there was a lot more to the story. 

He took stock of his body. Sore, but more in the ‘you got drunk, you ass’ type of way more than ‘hours of fantastic sex’ type of way. His pants were off, and so was his shirt, but his boxers were still on, thankfully. 

Tyler… not so much. He was buck ass naked, blanket twined up in between his legs. (Darn.) 

“Stop staring,” Tyler said, one eye opened slightly. “Make with the water.” 

Jamie walked into the bathroom and grabbed a cup of water, because fuck the minibar. If this place even had one. Where the hell were they? 

“I’m… I’m going to take a shower. I’ll be back.” 

He didn’t wait for a response, instead he went back into the bathroom and shut the door. He turned the shower on, partially to heat it up but partially because he just needed noise so he could freak the fuck out for a minute. This was entirely bad. Entirely bad. 

Jamie ducked his head against the cool glass of the shower wall, barely functioning. It was… wow. He was entirely hung over and he’d apparently slept next to, if not with, Tyler freaking Seguin. Which was…. something. 

The evening before Tyler had declared his love for him. Jamie had to say that over and over again, but then he realized that he had pointed out to Tyler he was straight and Tyler hadn’t corrected him. Bros say ‘I love you’, right? 

I mean, it wasn’t like Jamie had had a million tight guy friends in his life. He’d mostly had friends who were girls who had misguidedly thought gay meant he was going to be their ‘gay best friend,’ and he had had friends that were guys but they were rarely close. His straight guy friends were Jordie’s friends and they had always treated him as their little brother. 

Tyler was, to put it mildly, different. He was touchy feely to the point of making some guys uncomfortable, but not Jamie. He had the tendency to flirt with literally anything with a pulse, but rarely was there heat behind it. (Jamie was entirely sure that had he not been there the day Petsmart was having an adoption day Tyler would have taken that black lab home.)

He turned the shower off and grabbed a towel to rub at his hair, then realized there was no comb anywhere nearby. He put the towel around his head and grabbed another to put around his waist before walking out to find Tyler sitting on the bed (thankfully with his boxers on) staring at a piece of paper. 

“Shower’s free,” he muttered. “Do you keep a comb with you? My hair is going to look like an actual beast in about thirty minutes. Maybe I should call the front desk…they keep that shit, right?”

Tyler, who really obviously wasn’t listening, looked up at him with a small smile. “I won.” 

“You… won?” 

Tyler handed him the paper, which was just a plain print out but had emblazoned on the top, ‘License of Marriage’. 

“What. The. Fuck?” Jamie looked at the paper, then at Tyler, then back at the paper. Under ‘Partner One’ was clearly typed his name, with his barely legible signature and under ‘Partner Two’ was… “Wait… your middle name is PAUL?” 

Tyler started to laugh, his hand on the center of his stomach. He fell back against the bed and laughed at the ceiling, which _oh yeah_ had a freaking mirror on it. He just kept laughing, harder and harder, rolling from side to side. He snorted. 

At a certain point Jamie started to take offense to the laughter, though he wasn’t entirely sure why. It was just that. Well. Was he laughing that it was funny they were married? Or that he had his hair in a wrap? What the fuck was this funny? He crossed his arms over his chest and puffed up a little bit, the paper still crisp in his hands. 

“Tyler.” 

This didn’t stop the laughter. 

“ _Tyler_.” 

He thought he saw tears rolling down Tyler’s face. This called out the big guns. 

“TYLER PAUL SEGUIN.” 

Tyler didn’t stop, exactly, but his laughter faded just enough that it was down to chuckle level. He put his hands on the bed and shifted to a seated position. They looked at each other, Tyler laughing still and Jamie fuming. 

When his laughter had calmed down enough, he gave his best ‘innocent’ face and blinked his eyes dramatically. “Yes, _dear_.” 

“We’re married?” 

“It would appear so.” 

Jamie relaxed his stance a little bit, stared down at the paper. “ _You_ **married** me?” 

“Why are you making that sound crazy?” Tyler sounded truly offended on Jamie’s behalf, which was ridiculously sweet. 

There were a lot of reasons that Jamie could go with. Tyler was _Tyler_. He hit on every person who walked in the room. He was only 23. He was fucking _gorgeous_ and funny and got along with everyone while Jamie had issues with talking in large groups and sometimes had the habit of braying like a donkey when something was funny. But none of that mattered. 

“You are STRAIGHT, Tyler.” 

“Ish. I am straight… ish.” 

Jamie put the paper on a nearby table and walked directly up to Tyler to shake his shoulders. “What the hell does ‘straight-ish’ mean?” 

“It means that I hate the word bi because people take it wrong, I hate the word pan cause it makes me feel like a kitchen utensil, but I’m not straight. I use the word queer, though the way that was thrown at me in the locker rooms for hockey soured me a bit. So straight-ish. Curved. Bent. Not entirely straight.” 

Jamie rubbed at his face and groaned. “Well, now that that is cleared up. We’re married?”

“Told you I loved you,” Tyler said. But instead of his usual sarcasm or charm it was just a state of fact. 

“Is that what you meant by you ‘won’?” Jamie put his hands on his hips. “Cause if this is some sort of fucked up way of proving your point I swear to God I’m going to…” 

Tyler stood up from the bed, still clad in just his boxers, and pressed his body up against Jamie. He pressed a quick kiss to Jamie’s lips and then to his nose. He kissed his cheeks and his chin and then back to his lips, for a long lingering kiss that had Jamie forgetting any righteous anger he had building up. 

“I’ve been wanting to do that since the day we met, Jamie _you have no middle name_ Benn,” Tyler teased, his lips still an inch away from Jamie’s. “Or before that. When you and Hilary were trying to do figure eights on the ice and you dropped her. Twice. I saw you and … I wanted to kiss you.” 

Jamie blinked. What was he supposed to say to that? That he’d wanted to kiss him too? That felt insincere even if it was entirely true. Even if Hilary had told him not to fall for him and he had. Tyler’s eyes were so close to him he felt like he was going cross eyed. 

His final eloquent response was just a simple, “Yeah?” 

“Yeah,” Tyler huffed a laugh. “I thought you were the ‘take it slow’ kind of guy, so I went with it.” He kissed Jamie softly. “I didn’t know you thought I was straight. I’ve been sly dating you for _months_ man. Like, you haven’t noticed? At all?” 

Jamie looked back at the weeks he’d spent in Vegas. All the random times that it was just him and Tyler and something someone on the cast told Tyler he ‘had’ to do. The Reef at Mandalay Bay. The restaurants. The lunches. The nights spent watching ESPN. His eyes went wide.

“Now he gets it,” Tyler brought him back to reality and leaned in tentatively, letting Jamie bridge the small gap between the two of them. It was completely absurd. The whole thing was out of control, out of a movie, not something that happened, ever. “You must have taken off your ring before we went to bed.” 

Tyler showed off the small gold band on his left hand. 

“Ring? We got rings? Where the hell did we get rings?” 

The tips of Tyler’s ears went bright red. “I might have bought them at the pawn shop.” 

“You were _planning_ on getting drunk and married last night?” 

“NO! God, no. I was just. I don’t know. I saw them,” Tyler said and walked over to the table to find a similar band and presented it to Jamie. “And it was like fate, okay? FATE.” 

Jamie quirked an eyebrow at him. 

“Look on the inside.” 

Jamie’s eyes were still pretty sensitive from the hangover but he held up the band to the light and saw it small script “tj”. When he looked back at Tyler he saw Tyler had his ring out too. 

“TJ, on both of them. About our size. I saw them and I … like. Had to. I figured I’d keep them or whatever. Just in case. Or. For when I was ready.” Tyler slipped the ring back on his finger and took the ring from Jamie’s and with a look to him to confirm he put the ring on his ring finger. 

Jamie stared at it. “We’re married.” 

Tyler grinned at him and rolled onto the tips of his toes gleefully. “See, now you **have** to take me on a date.”

This time it was Jamie who started to laugh, which hurt like hell, but whatever. He laughed and laughed. Because really? That was what made Tyler so freaking happy. Marriage and harmony and all that good stuff but, a date. With popcorn and candy. He’d married the weirdest person on earth. And he was beyond okay with that. 

He stopped laughing and pulled Tyler in for a kiss, his hand going into Tyler’s hair and he could feel the pull of the metal in Tyler’s hair and god, that was his _wedding ring_. There was so much to take in he thought he was going to have to have a mental break down sooner rather than later but instead he enjoyed the moment. 

That was, until, Tyler pulled back. 

“Fuck.” 

Jamie’s throat closed. “Fuck?” 

“Who’s going to tell our moms?” 

 

Epilogue. 

They end up at the same poutine restaurant a year later, the same waitress behind the counter. It had become kind of a regular place of theirs. They’d taken a few of the other skaters there but mostly kept it their spot. If Jamie had thought that he would still be in the same show this long he would have thought it was crazy but somehow Vegas had become home. 

“Same table, same order?” Lindsay asked. 

Tyler smirked at her. “You know us so well, sweetheart.” 

“Watch it,” Lindsay quirked an eyebrow and brandished the engagement ring on her finger. She’d started dating another of the guys in the show and they liked to act like Jason was the jealous type but it was the furthest from the truth. 

“I’m a taken man,” Tyler waggled his finger at her and even now Jamie still had the weirdest feeling in his stomach about the gold band. He fiddled with his and stared dopily at Tyler. 

Lindsay dropped off their beers and rolled her eyes. “You would think you’d be out of the honeymoon phase. How long has it been?” 

Jamie grinned. “One year today, actually.” 

“Well, one year married. We’ve been together for 18 months. It just took this dumbass forever to get with the program,” Tyler amended. 

“You love this dumbass,” Jamie muttered. 

Tyler smiled and nudged their knees under the table. “Told you so.”

  
_Rollercoaster, I don't say no_  
Rollercoaster, when you don't say no  
And it's such a rollercoaster  
Some killer queen you are  
Bleachers “Rollercoaster” 


End file.
